Beef Cattle Supplant Tobacco In Rural Madison County

A significant transformation has taken place over the last decade in Madison County. Farmers have shifted from burley tobacco to beef cattle. County Extension Agent Brandon Sears says annual tobacco production has gone from 12-million pounds a year in the late 1990’s to about a million-pounds today. Sears says cattle now fuel the agricultural economy.

“The latest figures that are out for Madison County are somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 million dollars annual sales on beef cattle. That would be kind of a farm gate receipt number and we’re somewhere in the six to seven million dollar per year range on crops,” said Sears.

In addition to about 600-acres of tobacco, Sears says Madison County now places much more emphasis on corn and soybeans.